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An Ode to Missy Elliott, the True Star of the Super Bowl (and the Kids' 'New' Favorite Rapper)

By John Boone 4:58 PM PST, February 2, 2015

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Remember when Katy Perry performed at Super Bowl XLIX and everyone was like, “Aw, this is cute,” and then Lenny Kravitz came out with his guitar and everyone was like, “Oh, cool!” and then Missy Elliott came out and everyone was like “GET IT MISSY! FIRE! FIRE! FIIIIIIRE! WORK, BITCH, WORK!”

When Katy teased Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott’s (sort of) surprise appearance, she said, "When you hear the first ring of the chord, I think jaws will drop and faces will melt." She wasn’t exaggerating. When we heard that iconic “buh bah bee bah buh” we were basically like:

Nostalgia was running high during halftime. If you grew up in the late '90s/early 2000s and went to a middle school dance where a Missy Elliott song wasn’t played, did you really go to a dance at all? And Missy felt the love:

While we were over here shouting “HOW @%&*ing DARE YOU. DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE SPEAKING ABOUT? EVER HEARD OF ‘PASS THE DUTCH’? ‘WE RUN THIS’? ‘GOSSIP FOLKS’? SHOW SOME RESPECT,” Missy took it all in stride:

She did always say she was ahead of the game after all. (Her exact quote was, “Girl, girl, get that cash / If it's 9 to 5 or shakin' your ass / Ain't no shame, ladies do your thang / Just make sure you ahead of the game.”)

And those kids do seem to be buying her music. Billboard figures that sales of her catalog have increased 1,000 percent in one day. "Get Ur Freak On” and "Lose Control” even made it into the iTunes Top 10.

Gnite y'all I ❤️ u all & thank u 4 the love! I appreciate U all from the bottom of my ❤️Been here over 20 yrs & counting?